August 2012 - Public Health Association of New Zealand

From the PresidentNew PHA CEOThe PHA ExecutiveCouncil is delightedto announce theappointment of new CEOWarren Lindberg.Warren is a longstandingPHA member and a leaderwithin the public healthcommunity. He is anexperienced not-for-profitCEO, well versed withframeworks and evidence useful to public health analysis,and an articulate public and media spokesperson.Since March 2007 Warren has been Group Manager,Public Health (now part of the Ministry of Health’s NationalHealth Board) where he was responsible for contractingpublic health services, including those with nongovernmentorganisations.However he is best known for his 12 years as the firstExecutive Director of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation(1986 to 1998), and as Manager of the Project to CounterStigma and Discrimination Associated with Mental Illnessfrom 1999 to 2001, including the launch of the mass mediacampaign “Like Minds, Like Mine”.Warren has been a Human Rights Commissioner (2001-2006), a lecturer in management in the Bachelor ofCommunity Practice at Unitec, a team manager in theAuckland Regional Public Health Service and PublicHealth Planner with the Northern DHB Support Agency .In 1999 he was made a Member of the New ZealandOrder of Merit for services to welfare.Warren says the public health sector has given him greatopportunities over the last 26 years.“I’ve been able to contribute my passion (and hopefullysome modest skills) towards better health for communitieswith which I have closely identified.“Working in the Ministry, with responsibility for funding thesector I had been a part of, has challenged me in ways Icould not have anticipated. I now know a lot more aboutdoing more for less.“As Lord Rutherford reputedly said, ‘We didn’t have themoney so we had to think.’”The PHA was established to provide leadership in thinkingabout Public Health, and Warren says he feels veryprivileged at this new opportunity to work collaboratively tohelp improve health for all New Zealanders.Warren will start with the PHA on Sunday 2 September atthe Executive Council meeting leading into the WellingtonGateway Events and conference.The Executive Council would also like to say a very bigthank you to Janice Burns who has been Acting Managersince November 2011. She and the team have updated alot of PHA systems and processes, and Janice has workedwith the Executive Council to enter negotiations with theMinistry of Health around our contract as a consequenceof the alignment review conducted by Bruce MacDonald.Janice has been consulting with branches and caucusesaround other recommendations from the review whileworking with PHA staff around submissions and ourcontract. She has also begun some of the planning workaround our organisation’s increased membership focus.Janice and Warren will be having a formal handoversession and Janice has kindly offered to remain on handto help with queries once Warren has taken over the reins,which bodes well for a seamless handover.With the appointment of a new CEO a new chapter willunfold for the PHA. We will continue to move forwardand learn from our history and rise to challenges andopportunities in the environment around us.I am sure you will all join me and the Executive Council inwelcoming Warren to this critical public health leadershipand influence role.Review updateAs members will know, the PHA Executive Councilcommissioned a “whole of organisation alignmentreview” of the PHA, which was conducted by BruceMacdonald and completed in March this year.The purpose of the review was to examine the structure,roles, capacity and finances of the organisation to ensureit is in the best position to meet present and futurechallenges.The review affirms there is a clear and ongoing role forthe PHA as an umbrella voluntary association for all thosein public health. The PHA potentially provides a meansof collective focus across a wide range of disciplines/professions/occupations within the sector. But to achievethis, the PHA must be an organisation that provides realand perceived value to its members, and that has broadappeal to the wide range of public health groups andindividuals.A key theme of the review was that there is enormouspotential for the PHA to grow in terms of membershipand effectiveness by demonstrating its relevance andimportance to members, to potential members, andto those who work in similar public health workforceorganisations.The review was largely about assessing how well the PHAis achieving this, and how things could change so we canachieve it better.2PHA News August 2012